That's Love
by ilajkajas2215
Summary: B/B goodness, of course. Basically, some fluff with them debating the term love. One-shot for now. R


A/N: This takes place sometime after the fourth season, but the exact time frame is irrelevant. Booth and Bones have been together for about six or seven months and everyone at work already knows about it and everything. That should be all that you need to know beforehand. And shout out to silver. wings. 34 for beta-ing this, it's much appreciated!!

* * *

"Bones, come onnn," Booth whined from his position, sprawled across her bed.

"Booth, don't rush me. I told you what time I would be ready and that you should pick me up then. You chose to show up an hour early, so you'll have to wait. Plus, you shouldn't lay like that in your suit, it'll be all wrinkled," Brennan told her partner from the bathroom where she was putting the finishing touches on her makeup.

"I didn't think you actually needed that long to get ready," Booth grumbled, ignoring her comment about the wrinkles.

"Whether you believed it or not is irrelevant. I told you when I would be ready, you just chose to disregard it," Brennan rolled her eyes.

"It's not my fault that I wanted to spend time with you. We haven't seen each other at all this week," he explained, getting off of the bed and joining her in the bathroom.

His chocolate brown eyes met her clear blue ones in the mirror and he gave her his best puppy-dog face. It affected Brennan more than she would've liked to admit.

"I know, I agree, but we're going to spend the whole night together."

"Yeah, in _public_. Where it would be inappropriate for me to do this," he said and immediately latched his lips onto the spot behind her ear.

He noted that he liked when her hair was in a fancy up-do like this, it gave him way better access to the silky column of her neck.

"So _that's_ why you've been missing me and came over early?" Brennan asked, turning in his arms so that they were facing each other.

"Not the only reason, but it may have crossed my mind that we would have time to spend some quality time together," Booth admitted.

"Sorry, but Cam will never forgive us if we're late and Angela would never drop the subject," Brennan reminded him.

"It may be worth it," Booth replied. He pinned her against the bathroom counter with the entire length of his body pressed against hers. Their faces were close, breaths intermingling, eyes locked together. After a few moments of the intense stare, he finally leaned in and kissed her—the right kind of kiss. Not the chaste, quick, deal, no, the long, slow, bone numbing kind of kiss that makes you forget your own name.

Brennan was used to these attempts at distraction and knew enough to extract herself from the kiss right before her mind completely turned to goo.

"Booth, we really do have to go," she muttered after tearing her mouth away from his.

She placed her hands on his chest as if to push him away but allowed him to drop his forehead onto her shoulder and rest his head there.

"I've missed you this week, Bones," he told her softly.

Her right hand slipped around to stroke the back of his neck and the edge of his hairline.

"I missed you too. I plan to show you just how much I missed you, once we get home tonight," she continued with a devilish smirk. With that, she pushed away from the counter and left the bedroom ahead of him.

As he walked behind her, he noticed her outfit for the first time. They were going to a casino themed event so she was wearing a blue dress that matched her eyes perfectly and fell just above her knees. Her hair was up, revealing her long neck and bare shoulders, as well as the top of her back and it made his mouth water.

_It's going to be a long night_, he thought to himself as he followed her out of the bedroom.

***BB***

"Sweetie, you look _hot_," Angela exclaimed when Brennan joined her at the assigned table.

"Thank you, you look nice as well," Brennan smiled.

"Where's your piece of FBI meat?" Angela asked, looking around for Booth.

"When you say it like that, you make it sound like him belongs to me. He hardly _belongs_ to me, Ange. However, if you must know, he went to get us some drinks to start off with," Brennan told her, motioning vaguely toward the bar.

Angela scanned the crowd and zeroed in on Booth.

He was leaning against the bar, looking fine in his simple black suit, paired with a crisp white shirt and black tie. His eyes were locked on his partner and even from across the room, it was obvious that there was no other woman who would ever hold his attention.

_Oh, he belongs to you all right_, Angela thought to herself with a smile. Booth appeared a few minutes later with a scotch in one hand and a martini in the other.

"Here you go Bones," he offered the martini to her.

"Thanks Booth," she smiled up at him as he took his seat next to her, scooting it closer to her by a few inches.

"Sorry Angela, I would've gotten you a drink but I thought you'd be dancing," Booth apologized to his girlfriend's best friend.

"It's okay, I'm already covered," Angela smiled and pointed to her freshly refilled Cosmopolitan.

"Oh good, you're here. I was afraid that you wouldn't make it," Cam sighed, joining the group at the table.

"Of course we made it. We RSVPed weeks ago, it would've been rude not to show up otherwise," Brennan told her. She knew that she was slightly out of touch, socially, but she never considered herself rude.

"Well there haven't been any new cases this week and we all know that the two of you get like rabbits in heat when you haven't been seeing each other during the day," Angela commented bluntly, as usual.

"It's hardly our fault. I can't help that I enjoy a healthy sex life with my partner. We meet each other's needs both professionally and personally and when we aren't together professionally, more emphasis is put on our personal relationship," Brennan pointed out.

"Do we _have_ to talk about our sex life? For once, can't the two of you act like we're in public?" Booth sighed, looking uncomfortable.

"I don't understand why you get like this Booth. Everyone knows that you and I are together, does that bother you? Are you embarrassed of our relationship?" Brennan asked in a loud voice, studying the face of the man she knew so well.

"Of course I'm not embarrassed Bones. I just think that decorum is important," Booth said earnestly.

"Whatever you say," Brennan shrugged.

As the conversation turned towards a recent case, Booth slid his hand down Brennan's back, letting it come to rest at the small of her back. His fingers stroked the area gently, trying to show her that he was anything but embarrassed of her.

Brennan noticed his ministrations, but ignored him, continuing to talk to Cam and Angela.

"Come on Bones, lets dance," Booth said, pulling Brennan to her feet.

"Booth, I was talking," Brennan protested, motioning to the table.

"Go ahead, we can finish talking about this on Monday," Cam said, motioning to the dance floor and looking around for a partner of her own to dance with.

Brennan let Booth guide her to the dance floor and allowed him to pull her close.

"Bones, you don't seriously believe that I'm embarrassed of you, do you?" Booth asked, his mouth right next to her ear. He'd noticed that she'd been slightly frosty toward him and he didn't particularly like it. He didn't want her to be mad at him.

"I don't know," Brennan admitted.

"Bones…how could I possibly be embarrassed of you? You're this gorgeous, brilliant woman who—for some inexplicable reason—actually wants to be with me. God, I want to shout it from the rooftops, not hide it," Booth told her sincerely.

"Well I don't understand why it bothers you so much when I talk to Cam and Angela about our sex life. They're my friends," Brennan replied.

"Because…sex—making love—is a very personal thing. It's how I show you how much I love you and I feel like that's something that is meant to be kept between two people, not put on display," Booth said.

"What did you say?" Brennan asked.

Booth repeated his words in his mind, looking for the mess up and then when he realized it, he was relieved.

"Yeah Bones, I said I love you. And I do. So much that it shocks me," Booth told her, staring into her big blue eyes.

He watched her face as she processed this. Sure, she'd known the extent of his feelings, but he'd never actually said it, except in bed.

"I need to use the restroom," Brennan told him, pulling away and high tailing it for the door to the ballroom.

Booth sighed. This was why he'd never said it before. He'd known he was in love with her for years, but where most women search for a man to say that to them, Bones was different. She feared it, didn't understand it and didn't want to.

"Where'd Brennan go?" Angela asked when Booth sat down to wait for his girlfriend to reappear.

"Bathroom."

Angela noticed that his face was drawn, but she said nothing, sensing that it wasn't the time to probe the situation.

When Bones returned, she was cordial to Booth, but not overly inviting in terms of conversation or anything else. They danced in almost complete silence a few times and he danced with both Angela and Cam as she danced with Hodgins and Sweets.

"Are you okay?" Angela asked Brennan in a low voice when Booth had disappeared with Hodgins and Sweets to smoke a cigar outside.

"Yes of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Brennan asked.

"I don't know…something is just off between you and Booth. Did you have a fight?" Angela asked. She couldn't really explain what she was feeling. It was like something had changed but she couldn't tell if it was bad or not.

"No, we didn't have a fight. I've just been thinking. I don't really want to talk about it Ange," Brennan explained after a quick internal debate about how much to disclose.

"Okay. You'll tell me eventually?" Angela asked, appraising her best friend's face.

"Eventually," Brennan agreed.

***BB***

"Hey, can we talk?" Booth asked when he and Brennan arrived back at her apartment.

Brennan shrugged and led the way into the apartment, past the kitchen and living room, and into the bedroom.

"Are you mad at me for saying what I said?" Booth asked.

"No, I'm not mad. It just surprised me and it's taking me a longer time to come to terms with than most things do," Brennan explained.

They shared eye contact for a few long moments and it told Booth everything he needed to know. He believed what she said and followed suit when she started to divest herself of her pretty dress.

He loosened his tie and belt and dressed in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt that he kept in the upper left drawer of her dresser. His drawer.

"Bones…were you really that surprised by what I said?" he asked as he watched her take the pins from her hair.

"No. I've always known that you love me, but I just thought that you'd never have to say it," Brennan said.

"Why'd you think that?"

"Because…you've never said it before. It's been obvious, since we met, that you've had strong feelings for me, I just assumed that since you'd never said it, you never would," she tried to explain.

"Does it bother you that I said it?"

"No. I don't think so. I just…I'm still not sure that I believe in _love_. So I fear that you'll be upset or disappointed when I don't reciprocate the phrase," she trailed off.

"I don't expect you to say it back. Maybe eventually, but I don't want you to say it until you believe in it," Booth told her.

"I don't know if I should believe that. You believe in it so fully that I'm afraid it will damage our relationship if I don't say it. But I don't feel comfortable putting a label, such as love, on what I feel for you."

"Believe it. Of course I believe in love. I get that you don't though, and I have no intention of pressuring you into it. I know that you care about me and that's enough for now. I should warn you though, I intend to spend the rest of my life trying to convince you that love exists," Booth said as she finished taking the pins from her hair and pulled a brush through it.

She turned on the little stool in front of the vanity to look at him where he was sitting on the bed.

"I wish you wouldn't make promises like that. You don't know what will happen tomorrow, let alone the rest of your life," Brennan pointed out.

"That's true. But I know that I will be by your side either until the day I die—whether that's tomorrow or in fifty years—or until you file a restraining order."

Brennan smiled at this and joined him on the bed. "I would never do that."

"Then you're stuck with me," he smiled back, collecting her into his arms after they climbed under the comforter.

She snuggled her head into his chest and closed her eyes, reveling in his warmth.

"Hey Bones?"

"Yes Booth?"

"You said that you don't feel comfortable putting a label on what you feel for me. What exactly do you feel for me?"

"I feel very strongly toward you. You make me smile, with just one look and as childish as it is, I still have the unconscious reflex of my stomach turning over when I'm around you. Which is ridiculous because that is a sign of increased nervousness, and I am anything, but nervous around you. Also, when I'm upset, you're the one I want to talk to about it. I suspect that this is because you have a much deeper understanding of psychology than I do. Oh, and when you kiss me, everything slips out of my mind. It's like my IQ suddenly drops a hundred points and I can't form a coherent thought. And when we lay in bed, with your arms around me, I feel safe, which, if I may point out, is completely illogical because I can take care of myself perfectly well. And I miss you when I don't see you, you know, if you're on a trip, or with Parker for the weekend or wherever else you may be," Brennan explained her thoughts in stream of consciousness, not filtering anything.

"I feel all of those things about you Bones. That's what I call love," Booth told her. "That's what I call love."

* * *

So...what did you think? As of now I think that this will be a one-shot, but I'm considering turning it into something longer. I'd love to hear your opinions. And thanks again to silver. wings. 34 for the help on this, you rock!


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